RunAcrossTheUSA.com

[Brandon]

Live from the Vermillion Holiday Inn Express, it's the Matt and Brandon site.

After that corny introduction (my brain's a little fried right now) I'll describe a little bit of our day. Matt's aunts to look forward too, so we pushed pretty hard all day.

Today was a day of bad food choices. We got a good start today from North Sioux City and stopped in Jefferson for a breakfast of banana bread and a chocolate milkshake drink. Matt topped it off with some pizza and I snacked on some "Mike-n-Ikes."

We found some unlit bottle rockets on the side of the road, so we spent a little time doing things that our mothers would not approve of. I won't go into it too much, but Matt was the hunter and I was the prey. I kinda got the raw end of the deal, but it was an adrenaline rush anyway. Besides, it was worth it knowing how much our parents would have scolded us.

At Elk Point, a delightful little town, we stopped at the local grocery store and got a few things. We were both pretty thirsty and were attracted by the cheap price of juice, so Matt got half a gallon of apple juice and I got half a gallon of orange juice. You both downed the entire jug at the risk of being called a pansy and the only thing I can say about it is BAD CHOICE. We both felt pretty sick as our bodies struggled to figure out what mean trick we were playing. It took a while, but our bodies finally reached an equilibrium again and we were able to go on at our normal pace.

We also made a quick stop in Burbank to contact Matt's aunts and solidify our plan and we were greeted by a friendly little kitten. We gave him some corn pops but he didn't seem interested, he just wanted to follow us. He stayed close behind, freaking out everytime a car went by. After about 1/2 mile he dropped back and we shed a tear, wanting to take him, but knowing a life on the road isn't good for any young kitten.

Our plan was to end up right at the hotel so we knew the faster we went, the faster we would be done. We raced through the streets of Vermillion, looking ahead to the glorious "Holiday Inn Express" sign. Now we're off to dinner, which I'm really looking forward to.

Brandon